There
is a relationship between the internal politics of states
and their diplomacy. This relationship is a kind of feedback
where the two 'spheres' mutually interact.Internal
interests influence the decisions that are made in international
affairs, just as what occurs abroad can, in various ways
and depending on the openness of a country, affect what
occurs on an internal level within states. The role of
the diaspora as an agent of para-diplomacy has become
an important variable for small countries like Ireland.
I will endeavour to study this phenomenon from the perspective
of historical and political science. This
work is the product of research carried out in order to
complete my master’s thesis in International Relations.
Hence it has a double focus; from the historical point
of view, which is my main background, and from the point
of view of political science. I hope to be able to bring
this topic to a conclusion with my doctoral thesis.

The French ambassadors to the English
crown
(Hans Holbein The Younger, 1533 - National
Gallery, London)

Introduction

Nationalism,
as a formative theory in these countries, gives us an
approach to these internal relationships. Models of nation
formation have their own characteristics, which are repeated
in international roles. Nationalism as we understand the
word in this article is the social and political doctrine
through which groups of humans form themselves into and
are called nations. This implies that state and nation
do not necessarily correspond, though in the majority
of cases the formation of a nation will demand the creation
of a state. When that formation arises from below, or
when what unifies is consciousness or myth of belonging,
based on race, language, religion etc., we then call it
romantic nationalism. When Irish romantic nationalism
managed to achieve an independent country (although with
limited autonomy in the beginning), we saw a new state,
small and relatively weak, which had to improvise a foreign
service from the good will and personal capacity of the
personnel available to it. It saw itself forced to resort
to informal strategies such as the use of its diaspora
and its para-diplomacy, or participation in large numbers
of forums in order to further its cause.

Development

Irish
foreign policy shows a number of basic elements that derive
from the national characteristics of the country. A very
important one of these is the defence of international
law and the conduct of policy within these rules. This
is seen as a means for controlling the powerful in favour
of the weak. Moreover, the framework allows smaller countries
greater room for manoeuvre. This also applies to the work
of diplomats. That is why these tend to be enthusiastic
participants in every type of forum where collective decisions
are made - hence the practice of multilateral international
relations where small countries gain most through seeking
allies. (3)

The
first Irish diplomats were not career diplomats, but rather
people who were chosen because they knew a foreign language
or had some useful skill. From 1919 until 1922, this area
was known as the Department of Foreign Affairs, but then
changed its name to the Department of External Affairs
and maintained this name until 1971. Its primary and almost
exclusive objective was to achieve recognition of Ireland’s
independence. In order to achieve this recognition, representatives
were sent all over the world. One of its greatest successes
in this respect occurred on 6 December 1922, when Ireland
became a member of the League of Nations. This permitted
the state to have diplomatic representation in other states,
and gave it the power to negotiate and sign treaties and
passports for its citizens.

Ireland
was one of the first small countries (in population and
territory) to achieve independence after the First World
War. As Gerard Keown points out, one result of this was
that the country participated in numerous international
conferences, even when the country had in fact no material
interest in the topics that were being debated, and it
signed agreements that essentially it did not have the
capacity to break. For example; its support for the International
Court of Justice in 1929 and the Kellogg-Briand Pact. (4)

Diplomacy
and Diasporas

Today’s
diplomatic affairs have allowed for the emergence of new
actors. As borders between states dissolve, new possibilities
are created. It is not a case of nation-states losing
primacy but rather of them allowing for the emergence
of other actors. However, what is in our day facilitated
by telecommunications and the global economy and culture
had in fact important precedents in an earlier period.
This is particularly the case with diasporas and their
mother states, along with the role they played in strengthening
national objectives.

There
are authors who speak of conflict resolution in a country
in terms of a 'game of three levels' and then there are
other authors who even include a fourth level, where the
diaspora is converted into a 'variable' (Hocking 1993).
Ivo D. Duchacek has termed these activities 'para-diplomacy',
which may be thought of as the relationship of these groups
with foreign states in commercial fields such as industry
and culture. Quite often, these 'new' players have interests
and interpretations of events different to those of the
central government (this can occur very frequently) and
even different to those of their 'nations of origin',
although this is less frequent. (5)

Immigrants
and their descendents try to maintain their customs, language,
and religion in the country in which they settle. For
these purposes networks are developed whose main function
is to maintain links with the original place of origin.
They do this more efficiently than could one single individual.
At the same time they achieve a relationship of mutual
benefit between the leaders of these groups and the non-immigrant
sector. The former achieve recognition within their community
for their proximity to existing national groups, while
the latter gain support that they could not previously
gain in their country of origin. These non-national diasporas
and their agents can act as a third party in conflicts
between their nationalities and their central governments,
and they become more effective to the degree that they
can involve the states where they live. The more numerous,
the richer, the more powerful or more influential these
groups are, the greater their possibility of achieving
this.

The concept of diaspora is profoundly linked to romantic
nationalism, and the model of foreign policy which arises
from it. All the rhetorical discourse of the government
begins to centre itself on concepts such as Madre patria
(Motherland), where race is what is most important and
goes beyond the state. For a long time the term diaspora
had negative connotations because of its association with
the Jewish loss of the Promised Land and their subsequent
dispersion for not being loyal to their covenant with
God. It is for this reason that the term was associated
with the notion of punishment. However the word is of
Greek origin and means, 'to scatter plentifully'. This
was the idea of bringing Greek culture to the colonies
and for this reason, it had a positive connotation. Nowadays,
however it no longer retains this double meaning and it
is used by the social sciences as term for a field of
study. This is how it will be used in this article.

Foreign
support for Ireland’s independence process

We
have already mentioned that Ireland was a nation characterised
by emigration, be it forced or voluntary. The exodus of
large numbers of the population was motivated by economics,
politics and religion. This process was significantly
accelerated by the 1840s potato famine. With regard to
forced emigration we refer specifically to criminals.
Often only convicted of minor offences, they were sent
to the penal colonies in Australia or to work as slaves
on the plantations in the Caribbean. This spawned the
birth of a diaspora nation, one that was deeply connected
to its homeland and which, for the most part, never lost
these connections. Let us take two of these cases as examples:
the Hiberno-Argentines and the Irish diaspora in the US
- which has been comprehensively studied and for geographical
and cultural reasons merits being kept in mind as we try
to understand what happened in Argentina. At the end of
the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century
Argentina was one of the most important countries in the
world for receiving migrant populations. The country presents
us with a rich diversity that is fruitful ground for study.

Irish
immigration to Argentina went through a number of phases.
There were already families that had settled around the
River Plate during the colonial period. After the English
invasion prisoners were left behind who integrated themselves
gradually and formed their own families. After Argentina
gained independence this immigration continued. The majority
of Irish immigrants were connected by links with family,
friends or neighbours who had already migrated. These
links (in the case of Westmeath, Longford and Offaly)
were started mainly by ex-prisoners and those who deserted
after the English invasions of 1806 and 1807, whereas
(in the case of Wexford and Offaly) it was merchant settlements
in Buenos Aires that started the migration chain.

Korol
and Sabato believe that the decision to emigrate to Argentina
was not an easy one. In addition to the difficulties of
uprooting and moving that are faced by people deciding
to emigrate, the language, unknown traditions and completely
alien culture also caused problems. On the other hand
the distance between Ireland and Argentina was an insurmountable
obstacle for the poorest sectors of society. They generally
could not reach further than England or with a lot of
luck they could get as far as North America. The structures
that were built up to facilitate emigration from Ireland
to Anglo-Saxon countries cannot be compared with the poor
organisation involved in the relocating of the Irish to
the River Plate.

One
of the determining factors in their decision to relocate
to the River Plate was the casual relationship of future
migrants with the nucleus of Irish immigrants who lived
in Buenos Aires. This relationship is known as a 'migratory
chain', and according to John McDonald, it can be defined
as, 'a connection through which future migrants can become
aware of existing labour opportunities, obtain the necessary
means to relocate, find accommodation and a job by using
the social links they have with previous immigrants' (McDonald
1997).

The
total number of immigrants who travelled to Argentina
is estimated at between 40,000 and 45,000. (7)
Of these immigrants, almost half returned to Ireland or
went to the USA. We owe most of this information to the
research carried out by Eduardo A. Coghlan, who created
an entire genealogical catalogue tracing the surviving
descendents of these immigrants.

From
1919 to 1923 Ireland maintained a diplomatic presence
in Latin America, particularly in Argentina and Chile.
The people sent by Sinn Féin did not have official accreditation
for these countries but did have such accreditation for
the Irish communities in these countries. The first diplomat
was Eamon Bulfin and the second was Frank Eagan. This
shows the initial interest in maintaining contact with
the diasporas in these countries. The
first International Congress of the Irish Race was arranged
following talks between Eamon De Valera and the British
Prime Minister Lloyd George and was a way of showing the
world what was going on in the country. It was held in
Paris in 1922 and its main organiser and chief ideologue
was Thomas Hughes Kelly from New York (Barry 2004: 3).

In
order to prepare the Congress, they first needed to organise
all of the Irish communities in the different countries,
in order to unify strategies. For this reason, during
1921, the government sent special missions to South America,
South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Russia and the US.
Within this context Laurence Ginnell arrived in Buenos
Aires as the representative of the Republic of Ireland
to work with Eamon Bulfin who was already there working
on the issue. (8)

Finally,
the first Irish Congress took place in Buenos Aires on
29 November 1921. More than 50 organisations sent their
representatives and they founded a new Federation. The
number is an important piece of information because it
shows the large amount of immigrants, their dispersion
and to an extent their fragmented organisation. They elected
five delegates to go to the conference in France.

Eamon
Bulfin was an interesting man, whose involvement in the
Easter Rising of 1916 led to him becoming admired among
the diaspora both of in his own day and indeed today.
Bulfin was born in Buenos Aires in 1892. He was the son
of William Bulfin, who emigrated to Argentina when he
was just twenty years old. In his adopted homeland he
went on to become a writer, journalist, editor and owner
of The Southern Cross newspaper. He used his newspaper
to help the republican cause financially and with propaganda.
In 1909 he returned to Ireland with his family and died
there the following year.

Eamon
actively participated in the 1916 Easter Rising and it
was he who hung the flag from the roof of the General
Post Office. When the rebellion was repressed he was sentenced
to death by an English court-martial. However due to the
fact that he was an Argentinean citizen his life was spared
and he was deported back to Argentina. A few years later,
in 1919 Eamon De Valera appointed him consul. It was his
task to gather support among the Irish community in Argentina.
He also sought to win over public opinion in order to
raise funds and assemble arms to aid their cause. In 1922
he was finally able to return to Ireland where he settled
until he died in 1968.

Conclusion

While
recognising the similarities between small nation states
that are formed on the basis of national identity, we
should also begin to take cognisance of their differences.
We should do so by looking to the farthest reaches of
these states - to their diasporas. This in itself offers
a different and indeed a new emphasis than that provided
by notions of 'motherland' (Cruset 2007). The ideals of
'nationalism' and group belonging, and what they imply;
the role of the church; the role of women; the question
of 'race'; the armed struggle as means of winning political
goals - these concepts not only distinguished the Irish
diasporas in Argentina and other countries but they marked
a difference between the Irish diaspora and the diasporas
of other countries. It would be interesting to study how
emigrant groups of other nationalities sought out and
studied the ‘Irish mirror', not just out of intellectual
curiosity but as a means of learning from the history
of another ethnic nationalism which managed to attain
political independence. Of interest also would be to study
the foreign policy strategies which helped to achieve
national goals. At some time in the future we would like
to know in greater detail what was reflected in that mirror
and what was done with the image it showed.

3In 1969, during
the political situation known as 'The Troubles' - a period
of confrontation between Catholics and Protestants which
began in 1969 and ended with the Good Friday agreement
of 1998 - faced with rising violence, the Irish government
appealed to the Security Council of the United Nations
for a ceasefire and a peaceful solution to the conflict.
However this did not achieve the desired results.

4 The Kellogg-Briand
Pact, 27 August 1928 in Paris, was signed by fifteen countries.
It outlaws and prohibits war as an instrument of national
policy.

8Another one of his important
missions was to launch the 'Irish Fund'. Ginnell and others
in Ireland had high hopes for the Irish in Argentina because
they were rich landowners with a lot of available capital
and were also sympathetic to the different Irish causes.
This reputation was completely unfounded (most of them
were labourers, foremen and administrators and only a
very small minority were landowners).